The window sashes or door panels of plastic window and door assemblies normally have a frame surrounding the sash or door panel and a jamb in which the frame fits that are made of hollow plastic profiles. For the sake of appearance, the connecting parts of the hinge to be fastened to the door panel or window sash and to the jamb should be visible as little as possible adjacent the hinge knuckle where the hinge leaves pivot on each other. At the same time, an adjusting mechanism must be provided that allows precise, convenient side-to-side adjustment of the door panel or sash parallel to the plane of the panel or jamb relative to the jamb, and must be integrated into the hinge in a space-saving manner. An additional vertical adjustment of the door or window sash as well as a front-to-back contact pressure adjustment perpendicular to the plane of the door panel or window sash, that is horizontally in the closing direction, should preferably be possible.
A hinge for plastic doors and plastic windows is known from DE 298 17 807, having two pivoted-together hinge leaves, one of the hinge leaves having a housing for fastening to a door or window jamb, and a holder for the hinge leaf on the frame side which may be installed through an opening on the back side of this housing. The holder has a mechanism for vertically adjusting the hinge leaf on the jamb. The lateral adjustment of the door panel or window sash must be performed on a separate holding block that may be fastened to a frame structure of the jamb and that has an adjusting mechanism cooperating with the hinge leaf on the leaf side. The holding block, which is screwed onto the door leaf, is clearly visible on the exterior of the door leaf and detracts from the appearance of the door or window.